GeoSea’s jack-up vessel Innovation has installed the first out of a total of 20 suction bucket jacket foundations at Ørsted’s Borkum Riffgrund 2 offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.
Innovation loaded the first batch of the suction bucket foundations in mid-April at the Offshore Terminal in Cuxhaven, Germany, where the assembly is being carried out.
GeoSea secured a contract for the installation of the jacket foundations in 2016, while the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) is supervising the induction process.
The Polish ST3 Offshore is in charge of producing and assembling the jacket foundations for the wind farm, with the UK-based Harland and Wolff (H&W) providing the suction buckets.
The Borkum Riffgrund 2 offshore wind farm will comprise 56 MHI Vestas 8MW turbines installed on 36 monopile foundations, in addition to the 20 suction bucket jackets. Jan De Nul completed the installation of the monopiles at the end of last month.
Located 54km off the coast of Lower Saxony, next to Borkum Riffgrund 1, the 450MW wind farm is scheduled for full commissioning next year.
Images: Ørsted